The two pretty much go hand in hand. Local firework stores have been busy with people rushing in to grab last minute supplies to make the holiday weekend complete.

But , a reminder, most of what you buy in South Carolina can't be used in Georgia. Mark Tribby and his family live in Augusta, but they cross the river to shop for fireworks for the 4th of July.

"We look for the big stuff: the flaming balls that go up, but not the ones with the louder parts that attract attention," Tribby says.

He says they avoid loud fireworks so they don't scare their pets, but also so the cops don't get curious when they blast off bottle rockets.

"We might look around see if anyone is watching before we choose to do that," he laughs.

That's because a lot of the big powerful stuff isn't legal in the peach state. In Georgia, you can't fire off anything that explodes. Fireworks are limited to sparklers and 'fountains.' Tony Powell works at Wacky Wayne's Fireworks in North Augusta-, and he says, the Georiga laws don't keep people from coming to their store.

"Probably 75 percent of the people come from Georgia," he explains.

At Wacky Wayne's, you can buy just about any firework your heart desires. For the Georgia folks though, the legal options aren't as plentiful. Their legal options are limited to items like sparklers and fountains.

With South Carolina so close by, Captain Scott Gay says July 4th keeps the Richmond County Sheriff's Office busy.

"We always receive numerous calls concerning fireworks," Capt. Gay says. "We have no intentions of going out and making a lot of firework cases."

While they don't encourage illegal firework use, they say they're not out to ruin everyone's Independence Day.

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Laura's love for broadcast news started when she was 15 years old. She was active in the 4-H Club and chose communications as her project area. She decided to start her own local television show that aired weekly to 16 counties in southwest Georgia.